Left or Right?
by mizzshy
Summary: As the sun rises, Otabek and JJ try to figure out where to go from here. [Day 29 of Pride Month fic challenge.]


**Twenty-ninth fic for a Pride Month prompt challenge from tumblr. Prompt: intersection.**

 **This got... involved wow. I was throwing ideas around with a friend of mine and this ended up being a mafia AU aaaand I might write more of it if I get time so please let me know if that's something you'd be interested to read!**

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Otabek comes out of a doze just as the sun starts to glint over the distant horizon. The car smells of blood and dirt, and dust clouds trail behind it, rising into the air in its wake. As he comes further into consciousness in the back seat, he realises how far they've driven: he's only seen this part of the steppe twice before, when he had a complicated clean up job. He glances up at the rear-view mirror, catching JJ's eye.

"Morning," JJ says with his best attempt at a smile. His hair is standing up in places, greasy and lank, and Otabek can see his fingers shaking a little on the steering wheel. "Get a load of that sunrise!"

Otabek nods, squinting a little when he turns his face towards it. "It's great," he mutters distractedly. "How long have you been driving?"

JJ throws a look at the dashboard clock. "When did we leave again?"

"You haven't stopped?"

JJ shrugs. "It didn't feel safe."

Otabek shakes his head a little – he can understand that. But now they're the only car for miles around.

"Pull over, I'll tag in."

JJ, however, shakes his head, and Otabek can see the worry twisting his face in the mirror. "I don't want to disturb him," he says, voice almost lost to the sound of the engine.

Otabek looks down to where Yuri is sleeping in his arms. Even in slumber, his face still holds a frown, and his hair is tangled and matted in a ponytail that's days old. Otabek shifts a little and sighs when Yuri crunches his face a little and burrows deeper against him. He needs this rest, far more than either of them. By all rights, Yuri should stay fast asleep even if Otabek does swap places with JJ – he'd been awake for nearly eighty hours straight when he finally passed out a little after midnight – but they both know Yuri's always been a light sleeper (call it being a product of his environment) and he won't. Otabek curls an arm protectively around him.

"Fine – but don't crash," he says, getting an exhausted laugh from JJ.

"I'll be okay," he says. "Just... keep talking to me – I need something else to think about."

"Yeah..." Otabek nods absently, gaze falling past Yuri to the footwell, where Yuri's favourite shirt is crumpled and reeking of blood. The purple is stained maroon in places and the trousers next to them aren't much better. Yuri shucked both off as soon as they got out of the city and now he's wrapped in JJ's jacket. Otabek is certain Yuri won't ever want to wear the clothes again, and thinks of the lighter in the bottom of his bag. His mouth goes dry at the thought of what happened and part of him is grateful that Yuri got the bastard because even if it has caused all this mess, Otabek isn't screaming at JJ to turn around and go back to Almaty.

"Otabek?" JJ prompts from the front seat and Otabek blinks a few times, coming back to the present.

"Sorry."

"It's okay."

Just as he doesn't blame Yuri, he doesn't blame JJ. He'd want something to distract himself too if he'd been the one to find Yuri. The blood on JJ's arms is drying, tacky and congealed, and even from the back seat Otabek can see the tension in his shoulders. He shouldn't be driving – they need to stop somewhere soon to fuel up the car and get some rest.

"Where are we going?" Otabek asks to another shake of JJ's head.

"I'm not sure, right now I'm just driving north," he says. "I don't even know where we _can_ go."

Otabek frowns out of the window at the mountains in the distance. "Neither do I – everything's back in Almaty."

He feels a fleeting pang for the things they left behind – their photos, their books, their king size bed – but then pulls Yuri closer. They have the important things.

"Yuri mentioned someone," says JJ, catching Otabek's eyes in the rear-view mirror again.

"What do you mean?"

"When I... met up with him," explains JJ, "he was talking really fast and crying and he told me he knew a guy in Saint Petersburg, said his name was Viktor."

Otabek glances briefly down at Yuri again. "Did he say anything else?"

JJ shakes his head. "That was all I could get out of him at the time."

"Did he ever mention this guy to you before?" asks Otabek.

"First I'd heard of him," says JJ. "You?"

"Never," says Otabek.

They both know Yuri came to Almaty from Saint Petersburg, but he's always been tight-lipped about that era. This Viktor guy could be of huge help to them, but if Yuri's never mentioned him before...

"I know what you're thinking," says JJ, breaking the surface tension Otabek's thoughts.

"What's that?"

"That it's a risk."

"Well it is."

"I know," says JJ. "I agree. But we're not exactly overwhelmed with options right now."

Otabek frowns again, brows coming together in worry. He strokes a gentle hand over Yuri's mussed hair as JJ comes to a stop at an intersection.

"Left or right?" he asks. When Otabek looks blank, he adds, "Right takes us fuck-knows-where. Left takes us towards Saint Petersburg. Which way?"

Otabek sighs. "You know, I hate it when you're right."

JJ's trademark grin tugs at the corners of his lips and he turns the car. "That's my Otya."

The light of the rising sun glints off the ring on JJ's left ring finger and Otabek touches the matching one on his. Yuri's hand, curled against Otabek's chest, bears its own, and the sight brings a tentative shiver of hope to him.

All that matters now is each other.

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 **Edited to add: After a great response across two websites (and several friends sending me messages or telling me in person to continue this), I can confirm I will definitely be writing more of this! Watch this space!**


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